The Blood Spilt at Springtime
by UnreliableNarratorandAuthor
Summary: Orphaned at a young age, Haruno Sakura is brought back into her clan where she learns what being a true Haruno is like. Disillusioned about the world from becoming a shinobi at a young age, Sakura learns how important clan ties are. After all, when you become a monster who else will accept you besides your family?
1. Unkept Promises

In Konoha, every children book features the amazing tales of the shinobi clans such as the Uchiha and Senju clans. The romantic stories describe brave shinobi of Konoha taking on massive beasts, rescuing princesses, and taking on armies of enemies with only a kunai. It's these stories that grab Haruno Sakura's attention and pull her from her harsh reality.

She pictures her long, pink hair whipping in the air as she takes on a shinobi twice her size and taking them down. Imagines her parents, the children of the academy, and the Hokage cheering for her. And most of all, she could imagine her bullies, Ami and her gang coming up to her trembling in fear.

"S-sorry Haruno-sama for being mean to you all those years! It will never happen again!" Ami would say, crying. "Your forehead isn't big, we were jealous of how pretty you were!"

Unfortunately for Sakura, her imaginary stories would not be coming true anytime soon.

"Oi! Forehead girl!" Ami shouted yanking on Sakura's hair. "Whatcha got there?"

Sakura cowered in fear and held her book tighter, "I-it's nothing A-Ami."

"Nothing you say?" Ami asked a cruel smirk growing on her face. She yanked harder on Sakura's hair as her friend took the book away from Sakura's hands. "Ha! Of course the baby would read a story like _The Tale of the Lost Princess_! You think you could become a shinobi? You're the weakest in the academy!"

Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes as the harsh words of the girl reached her ears. "T-that's not true…" Sakura murmured. Iruka-sensei always praised her for doing so well on the exams and encouraged her to continue reading.

"Did you say something, forehead?" Ami's friend taunted.

Sakura only whimpered in response. Ami began looking through the pages of the book.

"I don't know what fantasy you have in your head but you will never, ever become a shinobi of Konoha!" Ami said as she tore pages out of the book. "Konoha would never even think to employ you because you would only mess up with mission by being the crybaby you are!"

Sakura crawled up into a ball as she watched her beloved story be destroyed. She stayed in the position even after Ami and her friends had left the park. It wasn't until the sun began setting that Sakura went over to her book.

_I wish I wasn't so weak_, Sakura thought as she picked up the remnants of _The Tale of the Lost Princess _and threw it into the trash.

When Sakura returned home, her Okaasan rushed toward her, seeing her tear-stained face.

"Sakura, what happened?" Her mother questioned worriedly checking for any visible injuries.

"Okaasan, I'm sorry," Sakura said as she tried and failed to stop the tears from falling. "I couldn't keep my birthday gift nice."

Her mother brought her into a comforting hug. "It's okay, cherry blossom. Was it those girls again?"

Knowing she couldn't lie to her mother, Sakura nodded. "Okaasan, do you think I can become a shinobi?"

Her mother smiled brightly at her. "If Sakura wants to become a shinobi of Konoha, I can imagine her taking on anyone she wants and always coming back to Okaasan and Otosan with a smile on her face."

"R-really?" Sakura asked sniffling.

"Really," Sakura's mom said as she wiped Sakura's tears away. "Sakura just has to believe in herself more."

Sakura smiled brightly at her mother. "Just wait Okaasan! I'm going to become to greatest shinobi this village has ever seen!"

"When you do, Sakura, never forget your Okaasan and Otosan. We'll always be cheering for you, no matter what."

"How could I forget about you guys?"

"Well, you never know Sakura," Her mother said teasingly. "A boy could come and take your heart away from us and then your Otosan would be heartbroken."

"Boys are gross!" Sakura exclaimed making a face.

"You say that now but one day there's going to be someone who makes you extremely happy."

"Like Otosan does for you?" Sakura questioned.

Sakura's mother nodded her head as she got up and began heading back to the kitchen.

"Dinner will be ready at 6 so make sure you wash up beforehand."

"Okay, Okaasan."

* * *

Sakura wished she had hugged her mother longer. Her parents had both left Konoha together, something Sakura was used to due to them both being successful merchants. As usual, her parents left her enough money to pay for her meals and left a note explaining they'd be back in a couple days.

Sakura never would have expected a genin knocking on her door at eight o'clock at night and telling her the Hokage requested her presence.

Anxiety quickly filled the small girl. _Am I in trouble? Is he going to tell me what Ami told me? _

Taking a deep breath the small girl nodded and followed the genin. She looked at him in awe as she stared at the back of his head.

_He's a genin! A true shinobi of Konoha_, Sakura thought. _One day I'll be like him, delivering messages to everyone and keeping these streets safe!_

When they finally arrived, the genin knocked on the door and when there was a distinct 'enter,' turned towards Sakura and bowed.

"U-um, thank you genin-san!" Sakura said blushing.

A grim look appeared on his face as he looked down at her. "You might not want to thank me after you walk in there."

_I'm scared! _Sakura gulped but then shook her head to clear her thoughts. _Come on Sakura pull yourself together, just like Okaasan taught you!_

After a moment, Sakura entered the Hokage's office for the first time.

"Sakura-san, please sit down," The Hokage said with a warm smile that immediately swept her worries away.

Doing as she was told, Sakura looked at the Hokage from under her long bangs. _So this is the Hokage…even at an old age he's powerful enough to run the village. He's amazing!_

"You must be wondering why I brought you here," The Hokage said. Sakura nodded. "You're not in trouble or anything…but there's really no better way to tell you this Sakura-san."

Sakura waited nervously for the Third to tell her what he had to say.

"On their way back to Konoha…your parents didn't make it."

Sakura went numb at the news. _Okaasan…Otosan…they're never coming home? _

Tears began filling her eyes. "T-that can't be true! Okaasan and Otosan promised they'd be back! You never go back on your promises!"

The Third looked at the child sadly. "Sometimes, Sakura-san, you can try your best to keep your promises and not fulfill them."

The Hokage watched in silence as the pink-haired girl cried and mourned over her lost loved ones. He had orphaned children before and watched the orphanages grow in numbers after the Kyubi no Yoko Shurai, but he could never get over the scene of a child weeping over a lost loved one.

Eventually, Sakura's sobs became sniffles. "W-where am I going to stay?"

"Since you have no living relatives in Konoha, you'll have to go to an orphanage," The Third said regretfully.

"What's an orphanage?" Sakura questioned.

_Sometimes I forget how innocent young children are in times of peace,_ The Third thought. "An orphanage is a place where young children who lost their guardians go to live as a family."

A small smile graced the girl's face. "A family?"

"Yes, at the orphanage no one has a parent so the children form bonds with each other."

_I might be sugarcoating the orphanage too much,_ The Hokage thought as he observed the girl's growing smile. _But hopefully, Haruno Sakura the orphanage treats you well._

* * *

_The Hokage lied_, Sakura thought as she painfully got off from the floor. _The orphanage is worse than Ami and her group. _

A week has passed since Sakura heard the news about her parents and from day one, the four-year-old learned just how wrong the Hokage was about the orphanage:

_Sakura shuffled in closely to the caregiver of the orphanage as she gave her a tour of the place. While it wasn't the neatest and it was not like her old house, Sakura realized it would be her home from now on and she would have to accept it. _

_'Besides, I'll have my brothers and sisters with me so it can't be that bad,' Sakura reasoned._

_After giving a tour, the caregiver left her in the dining hall with a plate of hot food. _

_"Hey fresh meat! Who said you could eat that?" A voice screamed as hands shoved her to the ground roughly._

_Sakura looked up at her attackers: two boys and a girl. The boy in the middle was as tall as her Otosan had been, with a feral-looking grin on his face and a cold look in his eyes. The other boy was shorter but had the same malicious expression on his face. The girl was shorter and skinnier than the guys, yet the look on her face was colder than both of theirs combined._

_"Obviously because you're new you don't know the rules so we're here to tell them to you," the middle boy said. "There's limited food in this dump so you're going to give me a portion of your food to me everyday. Got it?"_

_Sakura whimpered and nodded her head. 'Maybe if I agree with them now, they'll leave me alone.'_

Limping to her room, for the first time in a week, Sakura couldn't hold in her tears.

_Okaasan and Otosan, when I become a strong shinobi you'll still be watching me, right?_

* * *

Hello and welcome to my first Naruto fanfiction! Hopefully it won't be as bad as I think it will be :)


	2. Gossip Follows Everywhere

After having a week off for mourning, she was sent to the academy. While Konoha had deemed a week long enough to mourn, Sakura didn't think she'd be able to get over the deaths of her parents quickly.

Because of her timid nature, her parents were the only people she ever interacted with besides bullies. Without them, Sakura didn't know who to lean towards when she was upset. With her father working long hours, her mother especially had been her rock. Haruno Mebuki had been there with Sakura through thick and thin.

Her mother never asked questions about why she came home covered in mud or why her books never came back home with her. Mebuki knew her daughter would never tell her what happened but Mebuki could only assume she was being picked on.

Instead of marching to the academy and complaining to Iruka like her husband had suggested, Mebuki decided to allow Sakura to deal with her bullies. After all, her daughter wanted to be a kunoichi and she would have to face much harsher conditions than being picked on. So she comforted Sakura every time she came home and offered her the best advice. Mebuki could only hope her daughter would grow out of her shy state and blossom to be the flower she knew she could be.

_Sakura, if you cry or show that you're upset you'll give the bullies satisfaction. Show a strong face and allow them to see that no matter what they do or say, it won't bother you, _Mebuki used to say.

Sakura kept this advice in her mind as she took a deep breath and existed the orphanage. She wasn't surprised that no one stopped to say their condolences about her parents. Her family, while well off, did not socialize or familiarize themselves with the civilians or shinobi of Konoha.

_Okaasan and Otosan moved to the village before I was born, but they never told me where our family came from and the Haruno clan doesn't seem very well known, at least not in Konoha, _Sakura thought. _While we had money, it doesn't stop Ami from bullying me or thinking less than me for not coming from a 'prominent clan of Konoha.' _

The academy was mostly shinobi and wealthy clans and orphans. Haruno Sakura had been a rare exception at the time of her admittance, having not come from a shinobi or wealthy clan. So while not treated like an outcast like the blonde-haired and blue eyed boy in her class was, Sakura was met with disapproving eyes and the feeling of being less than others. She was an outsider.

What Sakura was not expecting on her way to the academy, was the gossip.

"You see that girl with the pink hair? Her parents died while they were coming back from the markets."

"Were her parents the ones that moved into Konoha four years ago?"

"Yeah, no one knows why and you remember how strange they were, right? They would greet you back if you greeted them first but they never made friends or attempted to integrate here."

"They never even said where they moved from. For all we know, they could've been enemy shinobi spying on the village."

"It's probably why they put their daughter in the academy, so she could learn the shinobi techniques of Konoha to use for their village."

"In that case, they got what they deserved. Too bad our taxes will still have to pay for their daughter's education though."

Sakura stopped listening. She couldn't believe how insensitive the civilians were being. Her family had been strange, yes, but if her parents were enemy shinobi, Sakura would not be in the orphanage or going to the academy anymore. The Hokage would have surely done something about her.

_I want to be a shinobi to protect Konoha, _Sakura thought as she continued her walk. _But what's the point when I'm protecting people like them?_

Sakura's inner musing was cut short when she finally entered the academy. Instead of the disapproving gazes her usually received, whispers followed her as she entered her classroom. Ignoring her classmates, Sakura took a seat all the way in the back and stared out of the window.

"Hey baby! Is it true? Your parents died?" The person Sakura didn't want to see the most asked.

_Remember Sakura; don't give them the satisfaction,_ Sakura thought repeating her mother's advice in her head.

"I bet your parents are still alive and just didn't want you anymore!" Ami cruelly exclaimed.

"They probably left because of your large forehead!" Another girl chimed in.

"Yeah! Yeah! They realized how weak and ugly their daughter was and decided to leave!"

Unable to ignore the taunts of her classmates anymore, Sakura whimpered. _Why am I so weak? I can't even stand up for myself._

The taunting didn't stop until Iruka entered the classroom.

* * *

"Quiet down class! Today we're going to continue learning about the history of Konoha!" Iruka said, ignoring the groans of his students.

Because Sakura and her classmates were only four years old – the age where you could start going to the academy during times of peace – they had learned how to read, write, and do math. Iruka had only just begun going over history and basic trivia of shinobi.

While the majority of her class found the information boring and complained, Sakura soaked up the information like a sponge. Because of this, it was only reasonable that she was the top of the class at the moment.

"I graded everyone's tests and will now be passing them back from highest to lowest score. Only one person got a 100 on this exam, so they should be extremely proud of themselves." Iruka said at the start of class.

"Haruno Sakura!" Iruka called handing her the paper. "Good job, Sakura."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," Sakura said blushing.

On her way back to her seat, the green-eyed girl didn't miss the glares on her back. She gulped.

_Are you proud of me, Okaasan and Otosan? I got the best grade on this test, _Sakura thought, a small smile playing on her lips. _Just you wait; I'll become a shinobi of this village you can be proud of._

With that goal in mind, Sakura forgot about the glares she had felt earlier. Class had passed slowly as it usually did. As much as the orphan loved learning about shinobi, she sometimes wished the class started on practical lessons. By the restlessness of her classmates, Sakura could tell she wasn't the only person with that opinion but she also knew that her shinobi clan classmates had already started learning. It was only the orphans like her and the civilian clans who got the short end of the stick and had to wait another two years to learn.

It was why during a time of peace, the graduating classes were usually 75% from shinobi clans. Civilian children had not yet recognized the true meaning of being a shinobi – thinking it would be easy – and not realizing the amount of hard work and determination that was needed. So many dropped out knowing it would be easier to just take over their parents' jobs when they were older instead of joining in Konoha's forces.

_Maybe, if Okaasan and Otosan hadn't died that would've been my future,_ Sakura mused. _But…can I really be a shinobi?_

Sakura was taken out of her thoughts when she felt her chair being pulled from underneath her. She fell on the ground painfully.

"You think you're some hotshot by getting the best score on the test, don't you?" Ami sneered. "Well guess what? You're not!"

"I j-just wanted to do well," Sakura said shaking.

"Who are you trying to impress? Your parents? Guess what? They're dead!" The girls began laughing at Sakura.

_Just you wait! I'm going to become a great shinobi and then laugh at you guys! _Sakura thought as she watched them leave.

What no one noticed was Haruno Sakura's eyes glowing for a second.

* * *

In a blink of an eye, two months passed. Besides learning more about the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara, nothing had changed for Sakura. She still did well on her exams, she still faced bullying both in the orphanage and at the academy, and the civilians still gossiped about her parents.

While she was still picked on by the other orphans, they had approached her less frequently, especially after another boy joined the orphanage. As much as Sakura didn't like seeing another child being picked on, she would not step in because that would lead her to being picked on more.

_In this orphanage it is every man for themselves,_ Sakura thought as she watched two boys fighting in the dining hall. _The only person you can truly rely on is yourself. A person can turn on you at any moment or become unreliable when you need them most._

While the orphans didn't pick on her as much, Ami and her group began picking on her more. The girls had always had an interest in Uchiha Sasuke but now that they were out of the 'boys have cooties' stage, there was a war between most of the girls in the class. Ami was under the impression that Sakura wanted to take her 'Sasuke-kun' away from her.

Sakura, while admitting that Sasuke was a good-looking boy, saw no reason to fight over him. He had the typical Uchiha arrogance and never showed her an ounce of kindness. While she was being picked on in the park, she had seen him there as well sometimes and he never attempted to help her.

_As my mom used to say, if you like a guy he must make you happy. Sasuke definitely does not make me happy,_ Sakura thought watching the girls in her class. _We're young, but these girls are in shinobi school. Shouldn't they take learning a little more seriously?_

The civilians of Konoha angered Sakura. They expected to be protected by shinobi yet they never showed any respect for them. They saw the life of a shinobi as 'dirty and not respectable.' Whenever a headband-wearing person came around the shops, they were met with smiles but once they walked past, gossip and whispers followed in their wake.

Another thing they did that left Sakura uneasy was their treatment of Uzumaki Naruto. While the four-year-old never interacted with him and thought he was annoying, she recognized the unnerving hate the people of Konoha had for him. She understood, to some level how he felt seeing that she herself always faced gossip, but it made no sense her why he was being treated the way he was.

Naruto was a fellow orphan however that did not cause the gossip and hate surrounding him. Sakura had heard people calling him a 'demon' and a 'monster.' And no other orphan besides her and Naruto faced unkind eyes. So, Sakura knew it had nothing to do with not having parents.

She wished she could approach the whisker-faced boy, however, while her parents were alive they told her to stay away from the boy and Sakura was not one to disobey her parents. To honor their request, she never approached Naruto.

The way they acted caused Sakura's stomach to tie in knots. While she wanted to become a shinobi of Konoha, she felt no desire to protect the civilians or fight for them. In Sakura's opinion, they could go into a 'not respectable' position and fight for themselves.

Sakura loved the romantic lure of being a kunoichi. The adventure of venturing out of the village and completing missions thought to be impossible. The idea of having unlimited power at your fingertips and untapped potential in the use of chakra caused Sakura's heart to beat faster.

Sakura couldn't wait to graduate the academy and become a genin.

* * *

_Something feels off about today,_ Sakura thought as she crawled out of bed.

As if sensing her thoughts, the patron came into the room.

"Sakura-chan, someone's downstairs to see you. Please get dressed quickly and come down," The patron said giving her a kind smile.

Confused as to who was here to see her, Sakura quickly got dressed and went down the stairs to meet up with the patron. Without any word, the patron guided her into a room where a man sat on a couch.

The man, who looked no older than thirty, had a muscular build and spiked up black hair. His green eyes looked eerily similar to hers and his smile gave Sakura the chills.

"You must be Haruno Sakura, it is a pleasure to meet you," The man said. "My name is Haruno Yoshi and I'm here to take you back to the Haruno clan."

"T-the Haruno clan?" Sakura questioned. _I thought the clan had died off and Okaasan, Otosan, and I were the only ones left._

The man nodded. "Before you were born, your mother and father left and moved to Konoha. Apologies on being late to picking you up, we did not know of your existence until now."

_What? They weren't even aware that I was born?_ Sakura thought confused.

Sensing her inner turmoil, the man continued, "Your parents had made no acknowledgement to the clan that they were having a child before they left. They never tried to connect with the clan after they left so we never got word of your existence."

Confused and nervous, Sakura only nodded.

"Sakura-chan, Yoshi-san is going to bring you back to your clan compound," The patron said.

"W-what about the academy?" Sakura questioned.

"Anything involving clans is not something Konoha can interfere with. I'm sure wherever the clan compound is, there is an academy."

Yoshi nodded in agreement to the patron's words. The patron told Sakura to grab her stuff while Yoshi filled out paperwork. Sakura obediently packed her stuff away, for once ignoring the taunts of the fellow orphans. There were too many thoughts jumbled in her head.

Meeting up with Yoshi at the bottom of the stairs he gave her another spine chilling smile. "Haruno Sakura, welcome to the Haruno family."

* * *

**Second chapter is finished! With the first two chapters done, the story should start picking up tempo, especially since Sakura is finally going to meet the Haruno clan.**


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